ZION IN THE HEIGHT OF HER GLORY

TEXT FOR PRAYERA Battle And A March

We shall read from "The Mount of Blessing," page 203, beginning with the second paragraph.

"The Christian life is a battle and a march. But the victory to be gained is not won by humanpower. The field of conflict is the domain of the heart.... The old nature, born of blood and of thewill of the flesh, can not inherit the kingdom of God. The hereditary tendencies, the former habitsmust be given up.

"He who determines to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers and passions ofan unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him. Selfishness and pride will make a stand against anything that would show them to be sinful. Wecan not, of ourselves, conquer the evil desires and habits that strive for the mastery. We can notovercome the mighty foe who holds us in his thrall. God alone can give us the victory. Hedesired us to have the mastery over ourselves, our own will and ways. But He can not work in uswithout our consent and cooperation. The divine Spirit works through the faculties and powersgiven to man. Our energies are required to cooperate with God."

The old nature, the nature that we are born with, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. According to this reading our need is to pray for ability to surrender our hearts, our all to God. When we do this, we shall be quite different than what we are now -- our old nature will vanishaway.

Our study for this afternoon is from the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah. There we read: "Arise, shine;for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Isa. 60:1.

The first thing we need to know in this study is the person whom Inspiration asks to arise. Thischapter being a continuation of the fifty-fourth chapter, we will, therefore, look there for theinformation. There it is shown that it is the barren woman, God's servants in the Christian church. He is calling His church to arise and to shine because her "light is come." As to whether He isaddressing His servants at this present time, in the past, or in the future, let us read again--

"Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of Myplanting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified." Isa. 60:21.

This verse does not say that her people are already righteous, but that they shall be righteous. Itdoes not say that they have inherited the land, but that they shall inherit it. His church, therefore,is to be purified and made white by God's doing away with the "tares."

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Since her people have never to this day been all righteous, it is plain to see that the fulfillment ofthe prophecy is yet future. And in view of the fact that our message is announcing the imminentpurification of the church, the time in which the angels are to sift out the hypocrites from amongthe faithful, the time in which the net is drawn to shore and the bad fish cast out, the cleansing ofthe sanctuary -- the Judgment for the Living in "the house of God" (1 Pet. 4:17) is about to begin,Inspiration, therefore, in this chapter is addressing God's church at this particular time. Since wenow see that this chapter contains important timely Truth, we shall study it verse by verse.

Isa. 60:1 -- "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."

Who can truthfully say that our light is not come? that our message is not timely Truth? Nonewho are in contact with It, I am sure. Inspiration is, therefore, inviting God's people, theDenomination, along with us, to arise and shine. The word "shine" is what we must study nextthat we may know what is required of us.

A black, dirty object never reflects, it consumes all the light to itself. The moon shines becauseits surface is of white substance. If it were made of black substance it could not reflect any lightwhatever. The same is true with spiritual light: If we are eager to shine, we must now arise andclean up, put away our black, filthy garments -- take an active part in this revival and reformationunder the supervision of the Holy Spirit. Stupidity, fanaticism, and indifference must beabandoned and Divine thinking put in action, so commands the Lord:

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous

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man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to ourGod, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are yourways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My wayshigher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, andthe snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forthand bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be thatgoeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which Iplease, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. 55:7-11.

We must clean up our thoughts, our ways, our bodies, our clothes, our homes inside and out. Cleanliness is Godliness; God's government is law and order, peace and righteousness, joy andcontentment. Thus we need to be polished by the Spirit of God, be altogether Christians if we areto "shine," if we are ever to reflect the Word of God to those who sit in darkness. If you havetaken care of all the things the message teaches, then as your supreme duty and Divine privilege,take what Inspiration says: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, for the glory of the Lord is risenupon thee." Those who are now sitting down as dark objects, consuming light to themselves,should now embrace the opportunity and welcome the privilege. Today is your opportunity.

Isa. 60:2 -- "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: butthe Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee."

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The word "behold" connotes that if you look, you can see the signs of darkness alreadyhovering about you. "Gross darkness" means that the people will be at a complete loss to knowwhich way to turn, that they will be entirely confused and perplexed. Now is our opportunity torespond to the Lord's call and to get ready to meet the situation. We should now fully realize thatwe are in reality called to be the light to the Denomination, and ultimately to the world. Wonderful indeed that we should be the chosen ones from among the great masses of the world! You cannot afford to miss on this privilege. Act now.

Isa. 60:3 -- "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."

We are now the most obscure people in the world, but the day is already here in which we shallbe best known. Here is the sure promise that if we now arise from sitting down and make theeffort to reach God's set goal for us, the result shall be that the Gentiles shall come to our lightand the kings to the brightness of our rising. This is the acceptable day for you.

Even now if we lift our spiritual eyes, says the Lord, we shall see that all things are now ready. The call, along with the signs of the times is too plain for one to suppose that the day is far off. Our sons and daughters in this message are soon to be gathered unto us from the ends of theearth.

Isa. 60:5 -- "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and

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thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted untothee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee."

When this comes to pass, then the remnant shall plainly see and flow together, the abundance ofthe wealth of the Gentiles shall be turned over to them.

Isa. 60:6-9 -- "The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; allthey from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth thepraises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams ofNebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on Mine altar, and I willglorify the house of My glory. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to theirwindows? Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons fromfar, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy Oneof Israel, because He hath glorified thee."

Our sons and daughters in the faith shall come as a storm by air and by sea. They shall comebecause the Lord will glorify all His people. The call, "Come out of her, My people, that ye benot partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18:4), shall indeed alongwith the wealth of the Gentiles bring out "a great multitude which no man can number." Rev. 7:9.

Isa. 60:10 -- "And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister untothee: for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favour have I had mercy on thee."

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In Ezra and Nehemiah's time the people of God, the Jews, themselves had to build against greatodds, but for the church purified, the Gentiles shall gladly build. Not only the common people buteven their kings are to minister to the servants of God. Kings are now the bosses, but the day isalmost here in which God's servants shall boss the kings, and the kings shall be glad to be bossedby them.

Isa. 60:11 -- "Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night;that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought."

Because of our response to God's call and because of our rising to shine for Him, many peopleshall say: "...Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God ofJacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall goforth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Isa. 2:3. For this very obvious reasonthe gates as it were, would have to stay open day and night in order to accommodate the traffic --the incoming saints, the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings. Plainly, then, the great need is notthe "Harvest Ingathering" campaign, not the multiple collections, not the book sale days -- not anygoal-raising campaigns -- but to take this "golden oil" for our lamps and to "arise and shine" iswhat the church needs today.

Isa. 60:12, 13 -- "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, thosenations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pinetree, and the box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of Myfeet glorious."

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The place where the Lord's feet shall then stand is "the valley of the mountains" (Zech. 14:5); itis to be made most glorious.

Isa. 60:14-16 -- "The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and allthey that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee;The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou has been forsaken andhated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of manygenerations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: andthou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

As babies are admirably treated and nursed, so shall the Gentiles and their kings gladly wait onthe saints and from their abundance shall cheerfully feed God's servants.

Isa. 60:17 -- "For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, andfor stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness."

Now when the world needs and longs for peace more than ever before, God, Who only is ableto give it is loudly declaring that those who really want peace

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can have it if they but come to Him. This hope and faith in the promises of God is even now to beour only peace of mind if we really believe.

Isa. 60:19-22 -- "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moongive light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thineeverlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be allrighteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands,that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: Ithe Lord will hasten it in his time."

When all God's servants as one "arise and shine," then a little one shall become a thousand, anda small one a strong nation. Then the Saints will be quickly gathered and wickedness brought toan end. This is God's way for finishing the gospel work and we had better abandon ourman-conceived ideas of it and wholeheartedly respond to God's call if we expect to survivethrough the "great and dreadful day" of the Lord, if we expect to rejoice in the height of Zion'sglory. If we stand faithful to God's Word, we shall finally behold all these wonders and live forevermore.

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